Fighting for the Innocent!

We all agree that a stable society must have a strong, punitive justice system that maintains order and security. One flaw in every justice system, however, is the perpetual possibility of mistakenly punishing the innocent. Unfortunately, in our justice system, this happens too often.

There are six primary reasons for wrongful convictions:

1. Eyewitness misidentification: Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable. It is difficult to recall exactly the circumstances of any situation, especially one that catches a person by surprise. For example, do you remember the exact wording of every interaction you had yesterday? As time goes by it becomes even more difficult to recall what happened.

2. “Snitch” testimony: Witnesses, usually those already in prison, come forward claiming to have heard the suspect confess in order to get favorable treatment on their own cases.

3. Police and prosecutorial misconduct: Examples of this include crime labs claiming that they had test results when no tests were actually performed, and prosecutors and police hiding evidence pointing to another suspect. Unfortunately, these occurrences, if discovered, happen long after the trial, and those who commit such obstructions of justice are rarely punished.

4. False confessions: Authorities are often eager to close a case and thus put pressure on those accused to admit to a crime they did not commit. The accused, scared and feeling overwhelmed by the odds against them, admit to the crime, figuring that they will be punished anyways and that this will result in a less harsh sentencing. A recent example of this is the case of the Central Park Five, in which four of the five then-teenagers confessed to raping and killing a woman in Central Park years ago, and recently were proved innocent through DNA testing.

5. Poor defense counsel: Lawyers can, and often do, make many mistakes when defending a client. This is especially true in the case of public defenders, who receive enormous caseloads and are so overburdened that it is impossible to do a thorough job on each case.

6. Junk science: This applies both to methods that are not really science when empirically tested, and to legitimate science performed poorly. Poor evidence, later disproved with stronger science, has led to too many incarcerations.

Jewish law strongly upholds the principle that the innocent should not be punished. When G-d reveals to Abraham his plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:17-33), Abraham challenges G-d: “Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” When G-d offers to spare the cities if there are 50 righteous people, Abraham solicits for forgiveness if there is a number slightly lower; eventually, G-d decides that if there are even 10 righteous people, he will spare the cities. Thus, from the time of Abraham it was important that punishment should be reserved for the guilty, and the innocent should be spared, even, sometimes, to the extent that it may mean letting the guilty go unpunished.

One case illustrates the great value of the Innocence Project for American society. In 1974, James Bain was convicted of raping a 9-year old boy in Florida. The primary evidence at the time revolved around the blood type of the semen on the victim’s underwear. The jury believed the prosecution’s claim that Bain’s blood type was AB, even though the blood sample was group B. Once DNA evidence became available, Bain tried five times to get the Circuit Court to examine his case, but was rejected each time. Finally, after the Innocence Project became involved, DNA evidence was examined, and confirmed that Bain was not the rapist. James Bain was exonerated and released on December 17, 2009, after serving 35 years for a crime he did not commit.

We need a justice system, and we need to punish those who disobey the law, but we must ensure that the rights of the innocent are protected, and that if a prisoner is found to be innocent, that prisoner should be set free and given compensation. Earl Warren (1891-1974), who served as a District Attorney, Governor of California, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, was well aware of the often coercive methods by which law enforcement obtained confessions and convictions, and how careful scrutiny needed to be applied to ensure that only the guilty were convicted and incarcerated. As he said, “Life and liberty can be as much endangered from illegal methods used to convict those thought to be criminals as from the actual criminals themselves.”

There are more than 50 Innocence Projects in the United States, under the umbrella of a network called the Innocence Network, and they can use our help. This is nothing short of the championing of justice over injustice, and as a community, we must support their work.

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